privacy policy

Effective date: 20 April 2026

what skamp is

skamp is a personal idea-capture app that runs on your iPhone. we built it so your ideas never get lost in the moment of inspiration. this page describes what the app handles — and, more importantly, what it doesn't.

who we are

skamp is made by skamp ltd, a company registered in the united kingdom. for data-protection purposes, skamp ltd is the data controller for any personal information handled by the app — which, as the rest of this page explains, is almost nothing, because almost nothing leaves your device. you can reach us any time at hello@skamp.app.

the short version

skamp runs on your device. there are no skamp servers.
there is no user account. we don't know who you are.
we don't collect analytics, tracking identifiers, or usage data.
your notes, photos, and voice recordings stay on your device (and, if you use iCloud Backup, in your own iCloud account).
the only network calls the app makes are to Apple services (photo-location names and speech transcription) — explained in full below.

what's stored on your device

your content

notes, photos, voice recordings are stored locally in skamp's private container on your iPhone. photos are saved as JPEG, voice notes as M4A, and notes as markdown text.
nooks, archive status, and timestamps live in SwiftData (Apple's on-device database) inside the app's private directory.

if you have iCloud Backup enabled on your iPhone, Apple includes this data in your device backup. that backup is governed by Apple's privacy policy, not ours.

your preferences

theme, text size, and a handful of flags (for example, whether you've seen the welcome screen) are stored in iOS UserDefaults. none of this is personally identifiable — it's just UI state.

search index

skamp asks iOS to index your idea titles and a short content snippet in Spotlight so you can find ideas from the iPhone home screen. this index is managed by iOS and stays on your device.

what leaves your device

photo location names

when you capture or save a photo that has location metadata, the coordinates are sent to Apple's CLGeocoder service to turn them into a readable place name (for example, "Wellington"). the result is cached locally so repeat lookups stay on-device.
this is a standard Apple API call. no third parties are involved.

voice transcription

when you record a voice note, skamp uses Apple's speech recognition (SFSpeechRecognizer) to transcribe it. for many languages this runs on-device; for others, Apple may process audio on its servers. Apple's standard speech privacy terms apply.
we never see or store the audio or transcript outside your device.

that's everything

no analytics. no crash reporting. no ad networks. no telemetry. no tracking SDKs. no third-party identifiers. no server of our own.

permissions skamp requests

skamp only asks for a permission when you first use the feature that needs it:

camera — to take a photo in the snap capture mode.
microphone — to record a voice note in the talk capture mode.
speech recognition — to transcribe voice notes.
photo library — to read photo metadata (such as location) from photos you pick. the picker itself works without this permission.
location, while using the app — to attach the place to photos you capture. you can decline; photos just won't have location attached.
face id — to unlock nooks you've marked as private. face id is handled entirely by iOS; skamp never sees your biometric data.

you can change any of these in iOS Settings → Skamp at any time.

children's privacy

skamp is not directed at children under 13. we don't collect data from anyone. if a child uses skamp on a family device, their notes live on that device like anyone else's.

your rights

because skamp holds none of your data on any server, there is nothing on our side for you to access, correct, or request. you are in full control:

see your data — it's all visible inside the app.
delete it — delete the app. this removes your notes, photos, and voice recordings. if you're using iCloud Backup, follow Apple's instructions to remove skamp data from your backup.
export it — tap the share icon on any idea to send it out via the iOS share sheet.

if you are in the uk or the european union, uk gdpr and eu gdpr give you additional rights, including the right to lodge a complaint with a data-protection authority if you think your rights have been breached. in the uk, that's the information commissioner's office (ico) at ico.org.uk. you can always reach us first at hello@skamp.app and we'll try to sort it out.

changes to this policy

if we ever change what the app stores or transmits, we'll update this page and bump the effective date at the top. the version that applies to you is always the one published here.

contact

questions or concerns? email hello@skamp.app.